Private roundtable: Locked out: The role of the labour market in the NEETs challenge

Today’s young adults have been dealt a tough hand. They are trying to enter a labour market that is often hostile to younger workers – and the number of young people not in employment, education of training (NEET) is close to one million. 

The government has made positive steps in launching the Milburn review and announcing a £1.5 billion investment in getting young people back into employment, education or training, but, crucially, labour market conditions for young people today are very different to those experienced by previous cohorts. Yesterday’s policy solutions won’t have the same impact today and a coordinated approach is required to reduce barriers to work. 

We are delighted to be joined by Matt Upton, Principal Advisor to the Young People and Work Review at the Department for Work and Pensions, and Sarah Yong, Director of Policy and External Affairs at Youth Futures Foundation,  to discuss current labour market trends that are contributing to NEET young people finding it hard to enter work and how the structure of the labour market could be reformed to be more inclusive of work-inexperienced young people.

This invitation-only event is part of IPPR's Westminster Pulse series; an invitation-only roundtable series which forms part of our partnership programme. For more information on these events or our partnership programme, please contact Victoria Pope on v.pope@ippr.org.